CNet News featured an article on the effect of Gehry’s work and its interaction with the digital realm:

"Bilbao was sort of the big landmark that showed the world things were possible (with BIM) that couldn't be done in any other process," said Dennis Shelden, chief technology officer of Gehry Technologies, a software and services firm commercializing some of the techniques and tools developed for Gehry projects. "The types of buildings Frank does could not be done through conventional descriptive means and conventional ways of documenting," Shelden said. "The big question that's out there is where's the tipping point for this technology to be applied to more conventional work?"

The future of ‘digital construction’ is entirely unknown. Gehry produced the building nearly thirteen years ago. Vast advances have been made since then. The development of BIM programs marks another vast improvement in the functionality of the production of architecture. Computer Assisted drafting took the place of hand drafting in the mid 1990’s. Prior to its establishment, hand drafting was the only method of drafting in existence. The old process was tiring, and unforgiving. CAD brought architecture into a world where production could occur in a matter of hours, rather than days. The problem with CAD however, is that it merely replicates the act of drafting. It does not alleviate problems in mis-communication, and difficulties in missing or erroneous information in line drawings. Building Information Modeling (BIM) is the future of digital drafting. Programs that utilize this system model 3D building entities in a single model that produces all 2D documentation. This system allows for multi-disciplinary connections in a simple and understandable model.

For example heating and cooling ducts are drawn in no less than three separate 2D line drawings in any given project. If a change is needed, the three drawings have to be changed. If there was an unforeseen effect on the duct’s changes on the ceiling plan, and no one saw it in time, the construction process would be delayed and the budget would rise significantly. In BIM design, inconsistencies are omitted because the change in the duct system automatically updates according to all factors in the project. BIM design allows you to think more about designing rather than about drafting.